The present invention concerns a float dispenser for dispensing materials such as water soluble chemicals into a body of water. The invention is particularly applicable to a float dispenser for swimming pools in which the dispenser contains a water soluble chemical, for example, a chemical which releases chlorine or a chlorine-containing compound into the swimming pool water.
Float dispensers of this general type are, of course, old and well-known in the art, particularly insofar as swimming pool float dispensers are concerned. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,792,979 shows a disposable swimming pool chlorinator in the form of a one-piece, blow-molded plastic container which has a relatively large upper flotation chamber and a depending foraminous neck portion within which a plurality of chlorine tablets are disposed. Air trapped in the upper portion floats the device in the water.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,598,536 shows a flotation device in which the position of the receptacle which contains the mass of chemical charge is adjustable relative to the float collar from which it depends whereby the chemical charge may be submerged to a selected depth of water. A somewhat similar concept is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,677,711.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,934,409 shows a float and receptacle combination which is so weighted that, with a fresh chemical charge contained in it, it sinks to the bottom of the swimming pool and, upon dissolution of the charge, floats back to the surface thus signalling that the charge has been exhausted.
A very old patent, U.S. Pat. No. 942,836, shows a cage having hinged doors which open to receive therein a charge of chemical balls. The cage is adapted to be mounted by hooks to the pipes of a boiler, the chemical balls dissolving in the water to assist in scale removal.
Other patents which show various typical dispenser devices are U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,826,484; 2,950,959; 2,976,129; 3,390,695; 3,483,989 and 3,846,078. Of the foregoing, Patent 2,976,129 is of interest as showing a separate sediment chamber formed as part of the receptacle containing the chemical.
Generally, one disadvantage associated with prior art float dispenser devices has been a tendency for insufficient or erratic dissolution of the chemical charge into the water because the various tablets, balls or other shape comprising the charge tend to agglomerate together thus reducing the total surface area exposed to the water.
Another difficulty has been the inconvenience attendant to utilizing the prior art dispensers. Generally, utilization required opening the dispenser, removing any residual chemical charge and replacing a fresh chemical charge therein. This necessitated handling chemicals such as chlorine releasing swimming pool tablets which are often unpleasant and unsafe to have in direct contact with the skin or to handle excessively. Another difficulty with some prior art float dispensers has been the requirement to manufacture a relatively large number of parts to provide a removable closure or other means to permit access to the dispenser for replacing the chemical charge. This often resulted in such dispensers being relatively expensive.
It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide a novel float dispenser of simple and inexpensive construction which retains a chemical charge of tablets or the like in segregated, spaced apart relationship so as to expose substantially the entire surface of the tablet or the like to the water in which the dispenser is floated.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved float dispenser essentially made from two identical plastic molded half sections.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved disposable float dispenser which contains one or more water-soluble material tablets locked within an apertured receptacle forming part of the dispenser, which dispenser is inexpensive and disposable, i.e., is designed to be discarded after its chemical charge is exhausted, thus avoiding the necessity of handling replacement chemical charges.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description.